In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 file photo, Iraqi Shiite protesters chant slogans against the Saudi government as they hold posters showing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed in Saudi Arabia last week, in Najaf, Iraq. Diplomatic tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which began with the kingdom's execution of al-Nimr and later saw attacks on Saudi diplomatic posts in the Islamic Republic, have seen countries around the world respond.

In this Monday, Jan. 4, 2016 file photo, followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn an effigy of King Salman of Saudi Arabia as they hold posters of Sheik Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq. Diplomatic tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which began with the kingdom's execution of al-Nimr and later saw attacks on Saudi diplomatic posts in the Islamic Republic, have seen countries around the world respond. Some nations have followed the Saudis' lead in severing or downgrading ties with Iran, while others have offered words of caution.

Iraqi security forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters display weapons used by Islamic State militants to attack their city in Haditha, 150 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. The Islamic State group had captured Ramadi in May, in one of its biggest advances since the U.S.-led coalition began striking the group in 2014. Recapturing the city, which is the provincial capital of Anbar, provided a major morale boost for Iraqi forces.

BAGHDAD – The fighting has finally stopped in Ramadi, a major city in the Sunni heartland. Islamic State has been ousted, and the Iraqi flag is flying once again.

But Iraq’s government defeated Islamic State only with the help of Sunni tribes, which soothed local distrust of the Shiite-led central government. Now, as Iraq faces the even greater challenge of routing Islamic State from other cities, it is confronted with a heated conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia that threatens to inflame sectarian tensions across the entire region.

For Iraq, which faced years of sectarian civil war, the hostilities between Iran and Saudi Arabia could once again foil Sunni-Shiite cooperation – and empower Islamic State.

“For sure, the rise in sectarian tensions creates a fertile environment for the growth of ISIS,” Saad al-Hadithi, a spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister, said Tuesday, referring to Islamic State.

When the Sunni monarchy in Saudi Arabia executed a Shiite cleric along with 46 other prisoners over the weekend, it sparked the outrage of Iran, a majority Shiite theocracy. An Iranian mob ransacked and burned the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, and Saudi Arabia responded by severing diplomatic ties with Iran.

Now there are fears the bad blood will sabotage the fledgling efforts to ease the many crises roiling the region, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.

“I normally try to play down difficulty, but this is a huge setback,” Jan Eliasson, the deputy secretary general of the United Nations, said Tuesday.

Iraq in particular finds itself in a difficult position with a central government aligned with the United States and Iran. Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has tread carefully, cautiously condemning the execution but not heeding calls from Shiite protesters to cut diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia.

Analysts, Iraqi politicians and tribal leaders said that so far, there was no indication that the regional tensions were having an immediate impact inside Iraq. They said that al-Abadi had managed to navigate a middle ground, in part because Iraq’s Sunni leaders are not as closely tied to Saudi Arabia as in many other countries in the region.

The most recent round of tensions began Saturday, with the announcement that the Saudi government had executed a dissident Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. He criticized the Saudi royal family – and declared that oppressive rulers should be confronted regardless of sect, criticizing the Iran-backed authoritarian president of Syria, Bashar Assad.

While reactions came quickly, Iraq trod a middle ground, condemning the execution but assuring Saudis their new embassy could stay and would be protected.

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